Adeona, "Between Shades of Grey" sounds interesting! I love WWII literature, so I might think about checking that one out!
Ditto, your reasons of liking Watson.

Warrior, by dotdotdot I didn't mean occult-sounding or sketchy (In fact, it doesn't occur to me how it would sound very occultish.) I meant just "wow" But given the information you provided, I might read it. Thanks.

Haha, Ela, did I really sound like Dennie? Well, I'm not hysteric over the characters , but as far as the BBC show goes, I think Benedict Cumberbatch is my favourite. He is actually a little more of how I pictured Watson from the books (although, not jumpy, curly-haired, or that tall.) compared to Sherlock. I can never really picture Holmes. But, yes, Watson's my favourite in the books.

Oh, okay! Like I said, I don't know anything about the book other than skimming through a wiki article. I look forward to reading them!

On other notes- I put The Pianist (the autobiography) on hold at the library and am very, very excited to read it. For those who have read it--is content an issue in the book?

And on Uncle Tom's Cabin, I just finished the chapter where

I just finished Rosemary Sutcliff's The Mark of the Horse Lord today. It was only the second one of hers I'd read, after The Eagle of the Ninth.
I still love her writing style, and the way her characters seem like actual people of their time period and not just modern people in historical dress. I also loved the romance in this book.

@Warrior 4 Jesus: Monster Blood Tattoo looks very interesting, I think I will check it out!  
(I think it's silly that they changed the title for USA )
It's great he is a Christian!
Its sometimes hard for me to find new authors and fantasy books to read if I don't know what stuff the story contains.
So Thanks for sharing!  

Also:
I know it is a bit off subject but if you guys don't mind me asking. 
Im writing a story that is aimed at teen to adult age group and In the writing topic I asked if it was good idea to illustrate my story even though it was aimed for an older audience.
So do you as readers like to see illustrations, or do you prefer no illustrations?  
I thought it might be helpful to ask here.

Also:
I know it is a bit off subject but if you guys don't mind me asking. 
Im writing a story that is aimed at teen to adult age group and In the writing topic I asked if it was good idea to illustrate my story even though it was aimed for an older audience.
So do you as readers like to see illustrations, or do you prefer no illustrations?  
I thought it might be helpful to ask here.

It depends on the kind of book. Narnia might have seemed a bit empty without Pauline Baynes' lovely illustrations. But... it might have seemed a bit odd to see pictures in War and Peace or Pride and Prejudice. But then Dickens gets away with it.

What kind of book is it? If it's a drama, I'd say no. If it has a fun side, it might get away with it. Or if it takes place in a world of fantasy, or fantasy themes (Such as the slightly steampunk themes Dickens sometimes has) it might be a good idea.

Picture the book published in a store, among all the other books. Does it look like it'd fit better with the kind of books that are illustrated, or the kind that are not?

~Riella

I generally like illustrations. Maybe a small sketch at the head of each chapter to capture the feel of an upcoming scene, yet without being too spoilery?

Regarding the Attolia/Queen's Thief series, I thought the other fans might like to know that the paperback CoK has a new short story at the end. On the LiveJournal fan page I found this link to the publisher's "Browse inside" page, where by scrolling to the end you can read the short.

Also on the LiveJournal fan site, there is this KoA comic-style panel, a favorite scene drawn by a fan. It is quite good.

Costis was a strange "main" character. I still don't really care a whit for him. He was very boring.

I agree that Costis was very boring, and I didn't care about him, but I think she intended it to be like that. Even though he is officially the main character, the focus still needs to be on Gen and Attolia.

On the subject of KoA, I don't see why everyone is dissing Costis! I find him refreshingly normal (not that I don't like Gen!) and I very much empathize with him in all his misunderstood misfortunes. I love the scene where he

Spoiler

blasts open the door of Gen's chambers to because he thought the king was in danger. "Costis reloaded."

Whilst browsing to see what news there is of Magician's Nephew, I found this book review:

Book Reviews from Students of

Spoiler

Henry Fulton Public School

22 Aug, 2011 08:45 PM

The Magician’s Nephew review

The Magician’s Nephew is a book with extraordinary detail. It is the first book in the chronicles of Narnia and starts the series in an excellent way. C.S Lewis is the author behind the magic series. There are 7 books in the whole series.

The Magician’s Nephew is a book with a lot of detail and big words. They use a lot of adjectival phrases which may be hard for younger children. I would recommend it to ages 10-14. It has a lot of fantasy and Talking Animals and a Lion that can make all of the Animals talk. It involves witchcraft which small children would not be able to understand very well.

The story is very complex and is very long. Younger children will more than likely get bored of the book because they will not be able to understand the advanced words and awesome story. The book kept me engaged in the story the whole time. I never felt like putting the book down I always felt like I was there in Narnia.

C.S Lewis is a great story writer and has a lot of experience I would love to be a good story writer like he is.

It is interesting how the writer rates the Narnia books for reading age. I have blanked out the name of the school concerned as I recognised it as one in my locality. Other books, such as the Ranger's apprentice, written by John Flanagan (recommended for 9 yrs & over) were also reviewed.

W4J, it seems that my local library does have the Monster Blood Tattoo books, and I'll take a look at them as soon as I can get there.

Currently I am reading Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset as well as her Capricorn bracelet, and I have also reviewed the recent film based on Eagle of the Ninth. Thank you, wisewoman, for alerting me to the existence of this movie, as otherwise it could have been and gone without my noticing.

aha, Ela, did I really sound like Dennie? Well, I'm not hysteric over the characters , but as far as the BBC show goes, I think Benedict Cumberbatch is my favourite. He is actually a little more of how I pictured Watson from the books (although, not jumpy, curly-haired, or that tall.) compared to Sherlock. I can never really picture Holmes. But, yes, Watson's my favourite in the books.

hehe, you did. I actually haven't watched the BBC show, and I WILL never, because my opinion of Benedict Cumberbatch is extremely low. And that is ALL I will say. Holmes should be bald, but not old, really tall and thin . . lol.

On the subject of KoA, I don't see why everyone is dissing Costis! I find him refreshingly normal (not that I don't like Gen!) and I very much empathize with him in all his misunderstood misfortunes.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to "diss" him. I don't dislike him, I just don't think he was very important, and he didn't inspire any emotion in me. I might have empathized with him more, if I wasn't empathizing so hard with Gen the entire time.

I ordered a bunch of C.S. Lewis books recently. Some of them have arrived.

I got The Pilgrim's Regress, the first novel Lewis wrote after his conversion.

I also got a really nice hardcover copy of Boxen, the stories Lewis and his brother wrote as children. It's so adorable. And brillaint considering it came from such a young mind. It's odd to see all the misspelled words and childlike handwriting, mixed in with Latin phrases and professionally written plays. Lewis was a genius. Even then.

~Riella

Wow, where did you get ahold of Boxen?

Wow, where did you get ahold of Boxen?

Amazon.com.

Another of my Lewis books arrived in the mail today. This time it was "On Stories" -- a collection of essays on how to write, plus criticism on other people's work, including a critique of Tolkien's works The Hobbit and LOTR. Needless to say, I read those parts of the book immediately.

~Riella

A book I recently read is Blogging for Fame and Fortune by Jason Rich. The title is slightly misleading. It's a great book even if you're not looking to become famous or rich. The book has chapters on what makes a good blog, things to make your blog stand out from others, the different blogging services, using widgets, a work sheet to help you determine your target audience, maintaining your privacy, how to make/what makes an appealing layout, and just a lot of tips to help your blog be the best it can be. It also includes interviews with famous bloggers such as Perez Hilton and people who run companies that design for bloggers.

And yes, it does give advice on how to become famous and rich through blogging. It has chapters on how to drive traffic to your blog and how to make money through ads.

Even if you're not looking to get rich, it's a great book to read! I borrowed it on inter-library loan because I'd like to start a blog. I'm a Journalism major so I think it may be a good idea to start a blog to help further my career.

@Ithilwen: I have the Pilgrim's Regress and Boxen as well! I Love Boxen!  
I always liked Lord Big, If I recall correctly.
I've yet to read the Pilgrims Regress but hope to soon.

I took one more trip to Borders before they close down, they had great sales 50%-60% off!

I picked up:

Treasure Island
Alice and Wonderland/Through the looking glass
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
The complete stories of Brother Grimm

I generally like illustrations. Maybe a small sketch at the head of each chapter to capture the feel of an upcoming scene, yet without being too spoilery?

Thanks Adeona!
I like your idea a lot, I'm definitely going to keep that in mind!
Thanks for your help!

It depends on the kind of book. Narnia might have seemed a bit empty without Pauline Baynes' lovely illustrations. But... it might have seemed a bit odd to see pictures in War and Peace or Pride and Prejudice. But then Dickens gets away with it.

What kind of book is it? If it's a drama, I'd say no. If it has a fun side, it might get away with it. Or if it takes place in a world of fantasy, or fantasy themes (Such as the slightly steampunk themes Dickens sometimes has) it might be a good idea.

Picture the book published in a store, among all the other books. Does it look like it'd fit better with the kind of books that are illustrated, or the kind that are not?

My story is set in a fantasy world.
My characters go through a lot of trials and have to endure a lot.
I have lots of creatures in it (some I've made up) 
Its some of these and other important scenes that I would Love to illustrate in my story!

The reason I was asking about illustrating a book for an older audience is because I've seen some adult books that were illustrated. 
Both The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Hurin and the Silmarillion have been illustrated.

Alan Lee illustrated The Children of Hurin, but he only had chapter illustrations and only a few full illustrated pages (some sketched and others watercolored).
I was thinking of doing something along those lines.

These are two drawings done by Alan Lee (one of my favorite artists) who illustrated both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
My drawing style is similar to his (not as great as he is yet )

Thanks so much for your help!

Sandy, I don't engage in fangurlish opinion polls about who my favorite characters are and what romances I wish to be brought to fruition. *sticks his nose up in the air*

Spoiler

Peeta, of course

LOLOLOLOL. Welcome to the club! AHAHAHAHA. Anyway, great to know you are being conservative regarding that "romance issue" . So, have you read all the trilogy? *smugs*.

Has anybody here have read The Perks of being a Wallflower? Heard it was an amazing book.

Adeona: I felt guilty for a while because I really didn't care for Costis, but then Gen kind of teases him about being boring, so I felt better. It seemed far fetched to me that he would begin the book so interestingly (socking Gen in the face) only to become an absolute doormat later on. There's probably a name for narrators like him who are virtually just set up to tell the story and nothing else because Turner definitely isn't the first to use it. To some extent, Watson is kind of like that since he isn't the main character, yet he is the first person. So is Hastings to Poirot, Lockwood in Wuthering Heights, etc.

I read somewhere here in this thread that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the best Christie novel, so I picked it up at the library and just finished it. The bulk of the novel was pretty ordinary, even dull for Poirot and Christie, however, as anyone who has read it knows, it's the twist at the end that truly demonstrates Christie's genius.

I have been addicted to "Indigo's Star" by Hilary Mckay for years now and I am re-reading it again I love the way the author weaves the story and the way she makes a realistic but hilarious plot